


December 19, 1997

by Artemis97



Category: Columbine - Fandom, Dylan Klebold - Fandom, Eric Harris - Fandom, tcc - Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:02:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29773113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis97/pseuds/Artemis97
Summary: What if you had an opportunity to change E&D's future? Would you do it?David and Tatia are two detectives living in the year 2020 who come face to face with a time machine that can be used to their advantage. Will they travel in time? Most importantly, Where will they travel to? And What will they try to stop from happening?I DO NOT condone what E&D did on April 20, 1999. This story is all fiction, and some aspects of it might not even be accurate, but I hope you enjoy reading it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. David & Tatia

**Author's Note:**

> I had posted this story last year on Wattpad, like many of you had too and it also got taken down. I hope you enjoy it, and thank you for reading!

"Are you serious?" David yelled as he put his coffee in the table where I was supposed to be going over our latest case. I was falling asleep as usual.

My name is Tatia and David is my best friend. We met when we were both Freshman's in high school and we've been inseparable since then, but nothing romantic ever! Actually, we share lots of time together rather than being with our significant others, which might also explain why we are currently single.

When we graduated from high school, we enrolled in college together, managed to take almost every class together and we graduated together once again. Now we both work as detectives in the Westbridge Police Department in the state of Texas

Our life goals have always pretty much been the same. I can say that we are successful people, we're both paying the mortgage of our dream houses (not that our dream was to have a mansion or anything like that), we have nice cars, we travel often and together. We are neighbors by the way, and we're always looking for exciting things to do. Is actually kind of weird that David and I have never been in a romantic relationship. Although, I have to admit that he is very handsome.

We also go together to crime scenes to gather up evidence and whenever we don't get assigned the same case, we talk about it in our free time at work and at home. Sounds like a pathetic friendship, huh?

Back in 2009 when we were Seniors in high school, we had to turn in a research project about a case based on school shootings for our criminal justice class. We ended up choosing the shooting in Columbine High School as our topic, mainly because the due date for this research project was very close to the date that the shooting had happened ten years earlier. Our project was also due in April, and practically one month before our graduation.

We became haunted by this case. For the longest time we would discuss why the perpetrators did what they did and if they could have been stopped somehow. Even after finishing our project, in which by the way we got an 'A', we would talk about this case. Often, we would start with a different topic and still end up talking about Columbine and sharing any new discoveries we had made. It was like our secret, not because we were ashamed of it, but because most people didn't find interesting to talk about the same thing all the time. We referred to it simply as "Columbine", it felt weird to say: "The Columbine High School shooting" or anything else.

Whenever we talked about it, we didn't make fun of the situation. Other than occasionally teasing David for having Eric Harris' middle name, it was always more of an exchange of information, theories and "what ifs". What if someone could have changed the way Eric and Dylan thought? What if someone could have told on them before everything happened? What if they hadn't been able to buy the guns? What if the police would have responded faster? And many "what ifs" more.

David and I were born in 1989, he was born in March and I was born in September, so we were ten and nine years old respectively when Columbine happened, but I surely recall the moment I saw it in the news and how extensive the media coverage was.

Anyhow, lately David had been a little weird, he had been distant from me at work and at home too. He would still come to my house in the evening to drink a glass of wine, but he wouldn't stay long. He always came in through the back door since he has his own key. I never questioned him being distant. I thought maybe he was already and finally interested in some girl and our friendship wasn't toxic, so I would let him do his thing.

One day during lunch at work, he finally broke the silence in the most awkward way possible.

"What if you could travel back in time?" He asked. "Where would you go?"

I processed his questions for a couple of seconds.

"Probably around 1912, you know I love the movie Titanic and the lifestyle that many people had at that time."

David looked at me annoyed, while I sipped my coffee.

"Wouldn't you want to go back to 1999?" He asked.

"What for?" I asked with ingenuity in my eyes.

"Maybe we could stop Columbine from happening," he replied.

I gave him a weird look.

"What are you talking about?" I asked this time, while stuffing half of a vanilla muffin in my mouth.

David said: "Imagine we were able to go back in time. What if we could attend CHS and we got to meet Eric and Dylan and we could stop Columbine from happening?"

I stupidly replied: "Well David, I know we've always questioned why these kids did what they did and how things could have been different. But traveling back in time to stop Columbine from happening? That is a new weird phase you seem to be going through."

He scoffed, got up, threw his hands in the air, and said: "I have to get back to the office." While already walking away from me.

I sat there wondering why my answer had made him so upset. He was usually very easy going, so I could tell when something bothered him, and my answer had bothered him. I drank the rest of the coffee and headed back to my office as well, without thinking about this moment again for the rest of the day.

When I got home, while I was watching Netflix and drinking a glass of wine, it came to my mind again. Why had David gotten so upset by my answer?

Days passed; we were on the second week of March (2020). It had recently been David's birthday. The Westbridge Police Department was obviously an essential place to stay open, but us as detectives were told that we could work from home because of the COVID-19 outbreak. To be honest, it felt great to be at home doing nothing. A couple of days into quarantine was when David stopped being distant. I thought it was because he had no one else to talk to, since we were supposed to keep social distance! However, over dinner and drinks at my house, he confessed why he had been staying away.

"I want to tell you something Tatia. Promise you won't make fun of anything I tell you nor make any dumb questions until I finish talking."

He was being serious; I obviously knew the difference between joker David and serious David. All I could do was nod and he started talking.

He said Lieutenant Michael Smith had been working on something really important for a while, and apparently David had joined him recently. Michael and David were very close. Michael is the Lieutenant at our police department, and he was technically David's mentor when we first started working there. According to David, one night, before leaving the office, Michael shared a secret with him, he showed David where he kept this "secret" and afterwards, they started working on it together.

David continued: "The secret I'm talking about, is a time machine."

I felt like I should laugh sarcastically to put an end to this absurd talk, but David's serious expression made me keep listening in silence.

He said that Michael had already used the time machine once and that he had successfully traveled back to June of 1970. Apparently, he only chose that date because he is a soccer fan and The World Cup in Brazil had happened in the summer of that year. Since Michael was doing all this alone, he decided to come back after only a few hours of walking on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. David didn't mention how Michael came back. What he did mention was that Michael hadn't used the machine again ever since. However, after many more experiments, readjustments, and with David's help, Michael finally felt confident and ready to use it one more time.

I demanded a better explanation; my brain couldn't process what David was saying.

Rather than giving me the explanation I was asking for, he suggested that I go back to the 90's to try to stop Eric and Dylan from doing what they did.

"Why me?" I asked sarcastically. "Why we don't go together?"

Everything that David had told me was impossible, but he wasn't a liar and I didn't know what to think of it.

David said that since he had learned how to use the time machine, the most convenient option was that he stayed behind to keep an eye on everything, and to bring me back if things got weird. He was so persistent that he had a solution for every excuse I gave him.

"What could a thirty-year-old like me do at Columbine to try to persuade Eric and Dylan from stopping whatever they were planning?" I asked. "You want me to be a teacher? A security guard at campus? Work for the Jeffco Police Department, or what?"

"Wait," I kept mumbling: "Would I be nine years old again like when Columbine happened? How would a stupid nine-year-old girl be able to change the past?"

I had so many questions, and all of them were as nonsense as everything that David had just told me.

David was like: "Can you let me talk for a second?"

I replied: "You've been talking for the last thirty minutes, of course I have questions about all this!"

He said I could go back to any date that we chose, and he also said that Michael and him had discovered that I could go back to being younger, but how young?

"We can make you a teenager again, you could attend CHS with Eric and Dylan, become their friend and find a way to stop Columbine from happening," David mentioned.

My jaw dropped to the floor. "Go back to high school? To Columbine? To stop Eric and Dylan? You make it sound like a picnic day, David!" I yelled hysterically.

As I mentioned before, we had always questioned how these kids could have been stopped or even helped out of their twisted minds. But, me, being close to them and trying to be their friend? Uh, hell no. That was definitely something that I would have never wanted.

How was I going to be able to become friends with Eric and Dylan? like I said, I was a stupid nine-year-old in 1999, I barely remembered those years. To this day, the only things I loved about the 90's were the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.

"Well, that would obviously have to change," David said. "Think about this, we are so ahead of them. We know what they liked and what they disliked, so, you can use all of it to your advantage. Imagine telling them you love to listen to Rammstein, KMFDM and that you like to play DOOM. You will mesmerize them, plus you are beautiful."

Although I was in the most absurd situation of my life, David made me blush when he said that.

"So, going back in time wouldn't alter my physical appearance? Would I still be me? If I went back in time and decided to be seventeen years old in 1999, Would I look like when I was actually seventeen years old back in 2007?" I asked.

"Apparently yeah," David said.

"Apparently?" I laughed sarcastically. "How long would I have to stay back in time in order to be able to do enough to stop Columbine from happening?"

David was so sure that he was going to convince me about this madness that he had already talked to Michael about everything. Michael wasn't too happy about the idea of me going back to the 90's for that purpose. The only reason he had agreed was because he wanted to keep learning about his time machine, and how things would change the longer someone stayed in another era.

David said: "Is the perfect moment to do it. I don't know how long it would be necessary for you to stay back in time, but with the COVID-19 outbreak and everyone in the world having to stay at home, social distancing and all that stuff. Is the perfect moment for you to go back in time to try to make a difference. If anyone asked about you, I could say you're in quarantine as mostly everyone should be."

Also, David offered to pay for all my bills while I was gone (house mortgage, phone bill, utilities, car payment, etcetera), with my own money obviously. Well, actually we were getting paid to do nothing at home. Also, we both had a good amount of savings in our bank accounts and David said in the worst-case scenario, I would owe him a few thousands when I came back from the 90's.

"Great." I replied, not really meaning it. Oddly, we were almost at the beginning of April, eleven years after we became haunted by Columbine and twenty-one years after everything happened.

So, guess what? It didn't take that long for David to convince me.

He said that when Michael traveled back to 1970, he had a small backpack with him and whatever he had in that backpack, had traveled in time with him. So, David suggested I took important things with me.

I thought: "Flat iron, fake eyelashes and brow pomade, I don't have anything against the 90's but let's get one thing straight, 90's makeup and eyebrows were awful!"

David snapped me out of my stupid thoughts. He said that I should take my cellphone.

The fact that Michael hadn't used the time machine for him ever again, made me feel uneasy. I still ended up saying yes. Next day, despite the quarantine, Michael, David and I, met at my office. After a long talk that seemed more work related than anything else, they took me to the room where the machine was. It was a large room behind Michael's office, the only way to reach it was through a not so hidden door in the office's closet. Apparently, no one questioned where the entrance to that room was because it had been sealed off after some restorations, many years ago when Michael was younger. No one really knew that room was in use, at least David and I didn't know, until we found out about all this.

Michael was much older than us, he was sixty-one years old and very close to retirement. He mentioned that he didn't really want to go back in time because of his kids and wife. You know in case something went wrong.

"Oh, great." I thought. "Since I'm not married, I don't have any kids, it doesn't matter If I get stuck in the 90's, right?" All this was so stupid, and I couldn't believe I had gotten talked into it by my best friend.

We planned everything for about a week and when the day got here, I still had more questions than answers.

David and I had decided that going back to late 1997 could still give me some good time to try to stop Columbine from happening. According to what we had learned throughout the years, Eric and Dylan had started planning everything around the summer of 1998.

Going back to the end of 1997 even gave me time to try to stop the van incident from happening. If I went back as far as the summer of 1997, I could try to stop Eric and Dylan from getting in trouble for hacking Columbine's computer system, to have access to many of the student's locker combinations.

Anyways, we ended up deciding the date would be December 19th, 1997. Why? The reason was very stupid. Since David and I couldn't set an exact date, I told him to take me back to the day that Titanic the movie had been released.

So, yeah, by the looks of it, I would spend Christmas at a new home with people that I didn't know, because apparently choosing a house or a family wasn't one of the perks of Michael's machine. If everything went as planned, I was going to have about two weeks to try to settle, before starting a new semester at Columbine High School, after Christmas break. It had just been Christmas three months ago and I was going to relive it? What a trip!

Michael already knew how to mess with many things about this "not so reliable time machine." But also, there were many other things he didn't know, like where the hell in Littleton was I going to appear and who was going to be my family.

The thing literally looked like an MRI scan machine.

It was time, I gave Michael a hug, I gave David a bigger one, he kissed my forehead for the first time. I laid on the machine; I was holding the blue backpack close to my chest like a little girl holding a teddy bear. By the way, the contents of the backpack were ridiculous, and I will talk about them later.

As I closed my eyes, and to my surprise, the machine began making subtle calming noises. Lights were blinking, they were so bright that I could see the colors through my eyes even though they were closed, I felt dizzy.

I kept asking questions to myself. "Where am I going to live? Who is going to be my family? How old am I actually going to be? What if this doesn't even work and I appear in the middle of a street, or in a house with people that will freak out when they see me because they don't know me? What if I don't even get to see Eric and Dylan? What if I see them but I don't find a way to talk to them?" David and I never really had a strategy. He only said that the best idea was to get close to Eric and Dylan." Wait, David didn't even fucking tell me how to come back if I don't want to be there anymore!" All of a sudden there was nothing, no thoughts, no visions, nothing but darkness and silence...


	2. Friday, December 19, 1997

I opened my eyes with the feeling that I had slept for fifteen hours straight, then I remembered... Looked around, trying not to panic. I was lying in a bed, inside a room. The walls were light blue, there were some closet doors, a desktop with a very old computer to my feet and a medium sized window to my left, a massive goosebumps book collection in a bookshelf, amongst other things. Also a puppy calendar in one of the walls and I was trying to see the year...it was 1997. Could it be possible after all?

Someone knocked on the door, and the sweet voice of a woman that I had never heard in my life, broke the taunting silence.

"Katrina may I come in?" She asked.

Katrina? So much for trying to stay away from what I really like about the 90's, my name now was Katrina like Sabrina's evil twin?

"You gotta be kidding me," I thought.

I noticed that my left hand was holding tight to something. I moved my head just a little and I saw the royal blue backpack, it had in fact traveled back in time with me.

The woman knocked on the door once again while repeating the name: "Katrina?"

I pushed the backpack as hard as I could so it would fall to the side of the bed that wasn't facing the door.

"Uhhh yes, come in." I mumbled.

She came in, with a welcoming smile in her face, it didn't me make feel uneasy although I still didn't know anything about her. She was thin, with short, brown hair, her eyes were brown too and her skin was light. She seemed like a good person.

In my profession, we learn about people all the way from their expressions, their body language, the way they talk, and many more things. But right here, right now, I wasn't a detective. I didn't even know who the hell I was.

She touched my forehead and said: "I'm glad the fever has finally gone down."

I panicked, what if I brought the freaking COVID-19 to 1997! Wait, I didn't even have COVID-19 in 2020, so chill out Tatia, Katrina, whatever your name is.

I asked: "What day is it?"

"Friday 19th," she replied.

"Month?" I asked.

"December," she said with a concerned look in her face.

"What year?" I asked this time.

She giggled and asked if I was feeling better.

I asked again, trying not to sound rude: "What year is it?"

She replied: "1997."

I thought: "I gotta let David know that I made it!"

"Are you feeling better?" She asked once again.

"Uhhhm, I guess so." I replied. I didn't know how I was supposed to be feeling before, so that's all I could answer.

"You've been in and out since Wednesday when you got fever, today is the first day I see you better. The doctor mentioned we shouldn't be worried because probably the change of climate got you sick, but I'm still worried." She said.

She seemed genuinely worried.

"Great," I thought sarcastically, an overprotective mother. Or how am I related to her? And what change of climate is she talking about? I kept piling up more questions, this definitely wasn't the best start.

She asked: "You want me to bring you breakfast? I made some chicken soup thinking it'll make you feel better."

"I totally hate chicken soup," I thought. A homemade grilled hamburger with fries on the air fryer sounded perfect right now.

"Uhhh, I'll go eat in a little while if is ok with you." I said.

"Of course," she replied excitedly. "We're eagerly waiting for you to come out of bed already."

"We?" I asked in my mind. "Who is we?"

Ughhhh, I was so regretting all this already, and I had been in 1997 for less than 10 minutes.

"We'll wait for you downstairs," she said.

"Ok," I replied with a fake smile.

So, I got up, there was a door right next to the bed's headboard, I opened it and it was a restroom.

"Jackpot!" I yelled unintentionally. "My own restroom."

I relieved my bladder. It seemed like I hadn't peed in years. Then, I proceeded to wash my hands and a fraction of a second later, I noticed my reflection in the mirror. I stood there in shock...

There I was, it was me, totally me. Well, actually I looked like teenager me.

"I'm probably not older than seventeen," I thought.

My skin was pale white as usual. Small hazel eyes, small nose, big lips, pink cheeks. My hair was long and bleached platinum blonde just like always. I took a look at my body, flat stomach, big boobs, big butt, they were still there, and they looked even better than in 2020. Not even the ugly, outdated pajamas that I was now wearing dulled my appearance.

To be honest, I was fascinated by my reflection, I couldn't believe it, seeing myself in teenage years again, really put me in a good mood. Especially after all the craziness from the last few minutes!

Then I remembered about the backpack. I ran to the side of the bed. I took out my cellphone and it read "Thursday, March 19th, 2020" and I had thirty text messages from David, thirty freaking messages.

I unlocked it and automatically dialed David, still surprised about the fact that his texts somehow came through. I put the phone in my ear and began feeling nervous. It started ringing, it only made me freak out more. What if this was someone else's number in 1997? Who was going to answer on the other side of the line?

There was no more time to make stupid scenarios in my head, David's manly voice answered the call.

"Hey how are you doing?" He asked, sounding completely panicked.

"I think I'm ok," I replied.

He said: "I been texting you for the last three hours."

"Three hours since I left 2020?" I asked.

"Yes," said David. "What time is it there?"

"I don't know," I replied. "My phone says 10:17am."

"That's the actual time here," David confirmed. "That means your phone is working as usual, like if you were still here, in 2020. But what time is it over there?"

I whispered: "Listen, the alarm clock by the bed says 10:17am as well and I already know we landed on the date we wanted. Now I'm supposed to go downstairs for breakfast with my new family to find out if I'm in the right place. I'll fill you in later ok?"

"But you can't leave me like th..."

I hung up. I needed to find out where the hell I was and what kind of "family" I had. I dropped the phone inside the backpack, grabbed a new toothbrush that I had brought with me and then I placed the backpack under the bed.

Went back to the restroom, quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth. Then, I finally gathered the courage to step out of the bedroom. I looked around, there were many doors, all closed. The stairs were almost in front of my bedroom, so I began descending them. This was definitely a spacious home.

As soon as I was downstairs, I turned to my right and luckily, I was now standing in the entrance of the kitchen. A man, with a receding hairline and somewhat chubby was sitting at the table, looking at me a little surprised. The same woman that went to my room was near the stove, cooking breakfast I supposed.

"Katrina!" Said the man excitedly. "Virginia says you're finally feeling better, your immune system must have been weak, that's why you got that ugly cold."

"I guess so," I managed to reply with a smile. At least I already knew the lady's name.

"I made some chicken soup for you," she mentioned again.

However, I couldn't take my eyes away from a stack of pancakes that she had in a plate next to the stove.

"Come on Virginia!" The man said. "It looks like Katrina could use a good stack of pancakes, right?"

I nodded.

Then, he continued: "Your aunt has been making you eat all the boring stuff these past days, is time you eat something good."

My aunt? Ok, I had just found out that this lady was my aunt and the guy had to be my uncle then. Well, it was a start. I walked to one of the windows in the kitchen and peeked through it, it was snowing.

The man (my uncle I guess) said: "I'm sure it was also the freezing climate, here in Colorado that got you sick."

"As opposed to where?" I blurted, instantly regretting my tone. I turned to him and he was holding the fork with a massive piece of pancake close to his mouth.

"Texas?" He replied with confusion in his face.

"Holly crap! So, even here in the past I'm from Texas," I thought.

I turned to see Virginia and she was looking at me with a genuine smile.

"She must be feeling sorry for my lack of intelligence and common sense," I thought.

I proceeded to be awkward, since they were probably already doubting about my sanity: "So, how long have you guys been... together?"

They looked at each other and Virginia said: "Thirty years already. Can you believe it? About the same number of years that your parents were married."

"Were?" I thought. That sounds like they're NOT together anymore.

I tried to smile but I couldn't. I kept wondering where my new parents were and why was I with my uncle, aunt and why I had apparently arrived here just a few days ago.

"This is definitely a 90's house." I thought while looking around, I was dazed by everything I saw. I got to a living room and sat at a couch that had blue, white and red lines. There were different patterns everywhere. The only thing that made the living room look good, were the walls. They were white like the ones on the kitchen.

I began walking again, forgetting that "my aunt and uncle" were still in the kitchen, probably giving me worried looks. I saw some pictures, in one of them they were with a girl and a boy. I didn't know how old the picture was, but they looked very young. They must have been in their early thirties in the picture, as opposed to now, that they looked about fifty years old. So, I supposed to my relief that the boy and the girl must be in their thirties already. Probably no longer living in this house. Hopefully, that way I had less people to deal with.

"So, how are my cousins doing?" I asked, knowing that it probably wasn't the best question.

"Ohhh, they're doing great," said Virginia. "You know, Danny is in Aspen with his family. He might come over to visit and see you now that you're here since he doesn't live that far. Christina is doing good too, she loves NY and she comes to visit three or four times a year."

I think Virginia knew that I was very confused, and she tried to help me remember things without wanting to make me feel uncomfortable. But there was nothing for me to remember, I had never seen these people in my life.

"Hey Nicholas," she said. "Would you please take out the trash for me?"

"Ok great, we're making progress." I thought. "My uncle's name is Nicholas."

I said: "I'll take out the trash."

Virginia quickly replied: "Oh no darling, you still have a little bit of fever and I don't want to risk it, you might get worse if I let you go out in this weather."

I shrugged.

The thing here is that I didn't feel bad, I didn't feel sick. I didn't know why they said I had fever and a cold. I sat again, Virginia came and sat down on the opposite couch.

"So, my parents..." I said.

She replied fast: "They're doing great. They were excited about you being here in Littleton and they're hoping you'll like it. I already told them that you're sick and Sarah knows we're taking good care of you. Otherwise, she wouldn't have let you come here to start fresh in a new high school."

She continued talking as she put her hand in one of my shoulders: "I know it's been hard now that your parents are not together anymore, but I believe being here will help you a lot too. If you ever feel like you need to talk about it, I'm all ears."

"Of course, and thank you." I said with another fake smile. "I'm just worried about my mom," without even knowing what I was talking about. I didn't even know what my "mom" or "dad" looked like. Plus, I still wasn't sure if I had any siblings, but Virginia didn't mention anyone.

"My sister will be fine," Virginia said. "She is a great woman and I know she'll get through this, by the way, she said she might be able to come visit as soon as the end of January."

I thought: "Well, I'm not too excited about my unknown mother coming to visit, but at least I already know that her name is Sarah. Also, my aunt and my mom are sisters which means I'm finding out a little more about how this family works. And finally, the fact that she mentioned that I'm "here in Littleton to go to a new high school".

"What's the name of the high school again?" I asked, hoping I wasn't going to cause more disorientation.

"Columbine High School," she said with a smile.

"Fantastic." I said, not really meaning it.

Deep down inside me, I was wishing I was at the wrong place, so I could go back to David and tell him that I totally regretted this, but it seemed like we were on the right track.

We sat there quiet for a couple of seconds that felt like an eternity and then Virginia asked: "So, how about those pancakes?"

"They sound great," I said smiling for real this time.

Nicholas came back in, washed his hands in the kitchen sink and sat down to watch tv. It was NBC's ER, I don't think I ever knew about this show, it seemed a little cheesy. By the way, it was one of those big screen tv's with the speakers on the bottom. It occupied half of the freaking living room.

I ate in silence while inspecting my surroundings and Virginia made small talk, asking me if I wanted milk or orange juice.

"A coffee would be great." I said while I thought: "Watch out Tatia, your inner thirty-year old is starting to show."

She smiled curiously and Nicholas said from the living room: "Just like your dad Katrina."

Virginia smiled and asked: "Did William taught you to love coffee too?"

"He sure did," I replied.

She made a delicious coffee and the pancakes were great too, I think I ate like five, I was tremendously hungry. It must all been a side effect of traveling back in time.

I offered to wash the dishes once I finished with my breakfast, but Virginia said I could help another day, when I was already feeling better.

"Is it ok if I go back to the bedroom?" I asked.

Virginia said: "Of course, is fine, try to rest some more, it will help you get rid of that cold faster."

"Yes, thank you." I replied.

I went into the bedroom, instantly locking the door behind me and dialed David, he answered right away. The house was big, but I literally whispered because I was afraid that they were going to hear me.

This time he sounded calmer.

"So how are things going?" He asked whispering too.

"Why are you whispering?" I asked.

"Because you are." He said, with a hint of confusion in his voice.

I gave him a summary as fast as I could: "Well, apparently my name is Katrina. I'm here in Littleton with my aunt Virginia and uncle Nicholas. They have a daughter and a son that no longer live at the house and after Christmas break, I'll be going to CHS. Ohh and by the way, looks like I come from Texas, and my parents recently got divorced. My mom's name is Sarah, my father's name is William, and it looks like I don't have any siblings."

"Wow you've got lots of info in a short time. I can't believe you're actually in Littleton and about to become a student at CHS. That is awesome!" He said fascinated.

"Yeah, I guess. Listen I need to find out more things so let me try to call you back tonight or something."

I hung up; I hadn't even waited for him to say anything else. I looked at the time in my phone it wasn't even 1:00 p.m. yet.

There was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Katrina may I come in?" Virginia asked.

"Of course." I replied, pretending to look at a book as I unlocked the door.

She said: "I was hoping you hadn't fallen asleep yet but you're not even in bed. Do you like the stuff in Christina's bedroom? She hasn't lived here for some years already, but I still wanted to leave everything the way it is. There is also a guest bedroom, and Danny's room down the hall, but I wanted to put you in this one because it's more girly, and because of the bathroom. However, by all means if there is something you don't like, please let me know and Nick and I will be more than happy to change it."

"Ohh no, it's a wonderful bedroom." I said. "I love the Goosebumps book collection that Christina has. Thank you so much for doing all this for me."

Then I noticed that she had a yellow folder in her hands.

"Your ID, passport, and school paperwork are in here. Do you want to have them with you, or you want me to keep them?" She asked.

"I'll keep them. Thank you so much." I replied with a big smile in my face.

"Ok, perfect. I will be downstairs if you need anything," she said.

"Thank you so much," I replied once again.

As soon as she closed the door, I opened the folder, it had to have the answers to many of my questions. There was the passport and the ID, the girl in the pictures was me. "What a fucking trip." I thought. It had the name "Katrina Anderson." Date of birth: September 9th, 1981. Which meant I was sixteen years old. In real life I was also born on September 9th but in the year 1989. It also had the place of birth: Brownsville, Texas. In real life I had been born in Texas too, but not in that city. The address in the ID was 818 N Shore Dr, Port Isabel, TX 78578

I instantly googled the address on my phone, Port Isabel was very close to Brownsville, I saw the house and it was by the freaking beach. It seemed like a nice house for sure. I spent about two hours going over and over through all the papers in the folder, hoping to find even more relevant information. I was bewildered by the similarities between Tatia and Katrina. 

"Michael got his time-travel wires all crossed and still somehow managed to create all these similarities. This girl and I are practically the same person." I thought.

One more knock in the door. I jumped to the bed to pretend I was "resting."

I said: "Come in."

It was Virginia once again, she said they were headed to the store and asked if I needed anything. She also mentioned that the movie Titanic was released today, and that they wanted to take me to see it but it would have to be another day, when I got better. Apparently the hype for the movie was real!

She checked my temperature once again, and the fever was gone. I thanked her for everything, told her that I didn't need anything yet and said that I was going to stay to keep reading the "Goosebumps" book collection.

As soon as I heard the front door close, I went downstairs, looked through the window in the living room and saw the black car disappear down the driveway.

I ran to the fridge, looked around at its contents and there was alcohol: beer, bourbon and wine, yes! I was dying for a glass of wine! It looked like cheap and ugly wine was already a thing in 1997 because they had three bottles of Reunite's Lambrusco. I've never liked Lambrusco, but this would have to do, because it had been an exhausting day. I took the bottle upstairs and hid it inside the closet.

About an hour later, Nicholas and Virginia came back. They asked me if I wanted to eat and I told them I had eaten a sandwich while they were gone.

I went back to the room, still unable to open the bottle of wine. I stood there in silence studying all their movements. I truly felt like a teenager again, trying to find the right moment to pop the bottle without them finding out.

Suddenly, I heard Virginia coming upstairs, I peeked through the door and saw her go into a bedroom, I suppose it was hers. She made a call from a white cord phone that was in the nightstand.

"Dr. Hamilton, how are you?" She asked.

I heard that she was talking about me, she mentioned that I no longer had a fever and she also told the Doctor that I seemed to be having episodes of confusion.

"Fuck!" I Whispered. "She is suspicious about me!"

It seemed like the Doctor said something good, because she replied: "Ok Doctor, then there's nothing to worry about, I'll keep monitoring her temperature just to make sure it doesn't go up again."

She went back downstairs.

It was past 9:00 p.m. when Virginia knocked on my door one last time.

"We're going to the bedroom already, let me know if you need anything. We are going to watch TV, but we will probably end up falling asleep as usual." She also mentioned: "I talked to our Doctor and told him you no longer have a fever, I let him know that you have been somewhat confused, but he said is normal."

I knew she was being sincere; a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders because she genuinely thought my confusion was normal. I even gave her a goodnight hug.

I started getting ready without knowing the purpose, I examined the closet. There was a cool Nirvana t-shirt, also a bad ass faux leather jacket, a black skirt that by the way was very short but I loved it. I could see a suitcase in the closet floor. Probably the rest of Katrina's clothes were there, but I didn't feel like going through it at the moment. There was also a cute watch in the nightstand, I wore it since I supposed it was mine too. I did my makeup with what I had brought in my own backpack, smokey eye and all to match with the outfit. I decided I was going to take a walk outside to see how the neighborhood looked. Risky? Yes, but I wasn't going to just stay here and do nothing. 

Before leaving the room, I grabbed the wine bottle and unlocked the window. I waited some more time and finally decided to head downstairs. Surprisingly, I was able to sneak out without making noises and I purposely locked the front door from the inside.

The Colorado air smelled great; the cold burned through my cheeks and nostrils. It was freezing as fuck, and I loved it. But my outfit, not the smartest choice for this type of weather.

The house stood beautifully in a corner lot; it was gray-ish blue on the outside. I looked to the houses across the street, and they were cute as well. Then, I got to the sidewalk and looked up at the street sign in the curve, it read: "Reed St." On that same instant, I turned my head to the left...

"You gotta be fucking kidding me," I thought.

There was a green-ish blue house in a cul de sac, with a dark gray Honda Prelude parked on the street. A house that I had seen hundreds of times in archived newspapers, in videos, and pictures on different websites.

I freaking lived next to Eric Harris. I couldn't believe it, it was too much for me to take in. I decided to start walking the opposite direction of the street. I took a left and then a right, after some minutes of walking aimlessly with the bottle of wine in my hand, I got somewhere: Wayside Meadows Park, no one was there because duh, it was already past 10:00 p.m. Plus, with this freaking cold weather, I don't know how I had walked this far. I sat at the end of a playground slide, I opened the bottle of wine, and chug it down in no more than fifteen minutes. I wasn't too cold anymore. I was lost in my thoughts for a while.

Actually, I was buzzing... not buzzing, I was already drunk! "Crap, my tolerance is super low." I yapped.

I went back to the house and it was already 12:00 a.m. If my aunt went to check on me, she probably already knew I wasn't there. So many thoughts in my mind, I walked towards the back of the house, to look for a way to get back to my room, while trying to ignore the fact that Eric Harris was my neighbor. It was very dark, I looked up and only one of the street lamps was working. Then, I heard steps coming towards me, I turned around slowly. From the shadows emerged a human figure pointing at me with a gun. A face that I had seen many times in pictures and videos, but I never thought it could be possible to see it in real life...


	3. Eric David Harris

It was him, it was... Eric Harris.

"Hey." I managed to say with a smile on my face. Trying to seem extremely friendly, like if this guy wasn't pointing a fucking gun at me.

Then, almost whispering I told him while pointing at the upper level of the house: "I'm trying to get back inside my house, but is super late, my family will kill me if they find out I'm not in bed."

He lowered the gun.

"How are you planning on going back inside?" He asked.

"That's what I've been wondering on the way back here." I said. "My name is Katrina Anderson, by the way." I offered my hand like only a thirty-year-old lady would do, and surprisingly he gave me a handshake.

"Eric Harris, nice to meet you." He said politely.

Showing my thirty-year-old, good manners, first fail in trying to act like an actual teenager, and first fail in trying to impress Eric Harris.

"Were you partying?" He asked.

Before I could reply, he continued: "By the way, the gun is not real, some friends and I made a few to use them just for fun."

"Of course, no worries." Was the only phrase I managed to reply.

Then I said: "I know is dumb, but I was at the park. It was dark, so I thought it was a good place to drink a bottle of wine, which by the way was completely nasty."

He laughed a little and seemed genuinely amused by my adventure.

"You really live there?" He asked rising an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not trying to break in?"

"Dude, I'm not like you." I thought.

However, I nicely responded: "I recently moved here from Texas. I'm living with my aunt and my uncle."

Although it was very dark, I could tell that he was checking me out, examining my body from head to toe. It almost made me cringe.

"You're not cold?" He asked.

I barely shrugged

"Stay here, I'll be right back." He said.

"Ok," I said with a fake smile (It seemed like fake smiles were my thing lately).

After no more than a couple of minutes, he came back.

He was carrying one of those giant orange ladders and he said that he was going to help me get back in the house.

My mind instantly questioned how his parents wouldn't notice him carrying a massive orange ladder out of the house at 12:00 a.m, not to mention that stupid gun. It was my first clue as to why they never found out that he was messing with explosives in their own home. Anyways, this moment wasn't about judging his parents, it was about me trying to successfully get back into the house.

Eric laid the ladder on the floor and to my surprise, he kindly offered his hand to help me jump over the wood fence. I grabbed it and he literally carried me to the other side while holding my waist with his other hand. Then, he too jumped the fence in the blink of an eye.

Once we were both on the other side, he whispered: "No point in using the ladder there, the fence was too low."

"True." I replied with a nervous smile, while still trying to recover from the fact that he had touched me.

He asked: "Which is the window to your room?"

I pointed at it while mentioning that I had unlocked it before leaving the house.

Eric positioned the ladder and said: "I'll hold it for you, until you make it in there safely."

"Thank you," I replied giggling.

"Be careful you don't seem to be in your five senses," he said smiling.

"I'm definitely not," I replied as I placed my hands on each side of the ladder and started climbing. The truth is, I had stopped feeling drunk the first moment I saw him, and let's not forget that he was pointing a gun at me, even if it was just a toy.

When I had almost reached the window, I managed to look down and Eric hadn't taken his eyes away from me, he was probably having a good view of my butt, even in the darkness.

I tried the window and thankfully it was still unlocked, I looked around the room, everything seemed undisturbed. I managed to get inside, turned around and looked down at Eric. He was still there, holding the ladder with a smile on his face, I could see it amidst the darkness. I whispered a "thank you" while sticking my thumbs up.

Without saying anything and trying to do the least noise possible he took the ladder, turned around and started walking away. He made it over the fence and disappeared into the darkness again.

"What the fucking hell," I Whispered.

My mind couldn't process what had just happened and I was definitely shaking like only a teenager would. I looked around the room once again and everything seemed fine. I needed to know if my aunt or my uncle were aware of what was going on, so I thought I would go downstairs to get a bottle of water, since the hungover had started kicking in already.

It seemed like Virginia and Nicholas hadn't noticed my first time breaking the rules. Well, actually they hadn't even told me what the rules were in this house.

I went back upstairs, took a quick shower and went straight to bed without even worrying about checking my cell phone to see if David had called. I was very tired and must have fallen asleep right away because when I opened my eyes, the sun was shining through the window, making my current headache unbearable.

For some reason, the first thing I thought about, was the backpack, and how I could be in deep shit if anyone saw my cellphone. It had been very immature of me to just leave it under the bed. I checked, and thankfully it was still there.

Suddenly, it came to my mind that last night my steps as well as Eric's and the ladder must have made impressions on the snowed ground and that would mean I was totally screwed. I ran to the window, to my freaking luck, it had snowed some more during the night and the footprints were almost gone, I was safe for now.

I had been in 1997 barely twenty-four hours and I felt depressed, I missed my best friend David. I missed Netflix, my home, and even work, but more than anything, I missed being able to drink alcohol legally. It was hard to think how much trouble I would have to go through to be able to drink while I stayed in the 90's.

I decided to call David before facing Nicholas and Virginia for the first time of the day. I didn't really feel like letting David know that I was having a hard time. I told him the little progress I had made the day before with "my family" and how I had gotten very drunk last night.

He sounded bummed out, he told me that he missed me too and asked me if I wanted to abort the mission. It really surprised me, since he was the one that had come up with this "brilliant" idea in the first place.

I told him that I had to stay more days and that I would probably get used to it after a while. I kept something for myself, I wasn't ready to confess to David what had happened last night with Eric. Maybe I would tell him later on, or the next day or sometime soon. I told him to take care and then I hung up.

The room was quiet, I heard some voices that seemed to come from the outside, like people carrying on a conversation. I walked towards the window, peeked through it and I saw Eric outside his house, he was with a tall guy dressed in black. The guy's hair was light brown, wavy, tucked behind his ears and he was wearing a black baseball cap. I couldn't see his face, only his back, but my heart pounded heavy on my chest and before he turned around, I already knew who he was... Dylan.

I kept observing them, and I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I had the feeling that Eric was talking about me. He kept turning to see my window in a very obvious way, and I even saw him pointing at the fence and then at the window again. He was probably telling Dylan what had happened last night, but I couldn't really hear what they were saying.

In a stupid impulse, I decided to open the window and yell: "Hey neighbor!" While waving my hand like a dumbass and with the stupidest smile on my face. Eric, waved back at me with a smile as stupid as mine and with the other hand he signaled Dylan to turn around to see me. This only confirmed my suspicions that they were talking about me.

I said "Hi" once again, acknowledging Dylan and he shyly waved back barely rising his hand. Then, I came back to my senses, I put my head back inside and shut the window for good.

It was past noon when I decided to face Virginia and Nicholas. They were as nice as they had been the day before, everything cool. Virginia had cooked breakfast, some French toast, eggs, bacon and oatmeal. Nicholas said he ate a serving of everything. I ate only French toast, I wasn't really feeling hungry because of the hungover but of course I couldn't make it obvious. I hadn't been hungover in years! I stayed for a little after we were done eating, since Virginia had waited for me to eat together. I offered to wash the dishes once again, but Virginia politely declined my offer, better for me because I actually hated doing dishes.

They told me a little about their plans for Christmas. Apparently, my cousin Daniel, was coming over with his family to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I wasn't too excited about it, but I had to pretend otherwise, these people seemed genuinely nice and I had to be nice and as real as possible with them, as real as this stupid situation allowed me to be.

They mentioned how I would surely make lots of friends at CHS because of my nice personality, I was flattered.

I decided to go back to my room, told Virginia and Nicholas that I was hooked with Christina's Goosebumps book collection, so I was going to read some more. Truth is, I loved these type of paranormal fantasy cheesy books even in real life, but in the 90's there was a mission and I had to try to keep working on it.

I know my cellphone is the thing no one in the 90's should see but I had a mental breakdown during the day, and I thought about showing it to Eric, so he could see on the internet all the damage he and Dylan had created. I thought this could make a positive impact, I could go back to 2020 ASAP and everything would be fine. It was just a quick and stupid thought because showing my cellphone to Eric could create more inspiration for him, if he saw that their bombs failed, they would change every procedure so that they would be successful. If he saw how many people condoned their actions and copycatted them, he would feel even more superior and he would work hard on making sure the massacre was even worse than it had been. Plus, I didn't even know for sure exactly when Eric and Dylan began planning Columbine. Also, how I would tell him that I came from the future? Showing Eric my cellphone with all the information was definitely not the best option and if I was already here in the 90's, at least I had to seek to fulfill my promise about trying to stop Columbine from happening.

I let this day end with no regrets, thinking tomorrow could be better.

Sunday and Monday was spent getting to know my "family" a little better, I asked my aunt if she had a typical family photo album. I did it with all the intention of being able to find out how my parents looked.

Amazingly, everything went well. She showed me some pictures of my parents when they were younger and of myself, well Katrina, when she was little. I couldn't believe it, it was as if I was seeing a picture of me (Tatia) when I was a kid. My parents were good looking and from the pictures, I assumed they were currently in their forties. Also found out my dad is a psychiatrist, so I guess I lived nicely back in Texas.

Also, I had time to ask my aunt how the rules were going to be in this house, hoping we hadn't talked about it before.

She said: "Ohh true, you got so sick when you got here that we haven't really had time to talk about anything."

Nicholas was sitting nearby watching TV, and he turned his attention towards our conversation.

I'm sure a real sixteen-year-old would have been bored to death to talk to someone like Virginia. But let's remember I was a thirty-year-old in 2020, and to be honest I enjoyed talking to her, her conversations were interesting and I was hoping my "mother" would be as nice as her.

So, talking about being nice, Virginia and Nicholas didn't really set super strict rules. I was amazed, Virginia mentioned she wanted me to be happy since the main reason I had come to Littleton was to start a new life.

She said: "Once you go to school and start making friends, we want to allow you to go out as long as you don't come back home too late and, well, you know, other basic rules."

Virginia also mentioned: "We want to leave some open options for the rules. In case you don't agree with something, we can probably reach some good terms about it."

This could lead to interesting stuff. I was starting to genuinely like these people. Because let's be real, if I wanted to succeed in stopping Columbine from happening, I had to spend more time doing "hands on" stuff, rather than just planning in my room.

Anyways, I tried to save in my mind the image of my parents as best as I could, so whenever I got to see them, I could recognize them. I still didn't know how long I was going to stay in this era, but I had to plan everything meticulously like if this was a work-related case, since literally the future depended on it.

On Tuesday, I decided I was going to try my best, I was more positive. I was going to stick to the plan, and I was going to do everything possible to try to stop Eric and Dylan.

Later that day, my aunt asked me if I wanted to go to the mall, I agreed. I had gone through the suitcase in the closet, and to be honest the contents were decent, but I needed other type of clothes and I also found some money hidden in between the clothes. "Probably my parents gave it to me, to Katrina." I thought. Not a bad amount at all, it was close to two-thousand dollars.

Virginia and I headed to Southwest Plaza Mall. It was close to the house, she drove, and we got there in about ten minutes. Many stores, but I literally went straight to Hot Topic and bought more short skirts, one long skirt with openings on the sides, a couple of faux leather jackets, one blue and one black like the one I already had at home. I also got a pair of combat boots, I decided this was going to be my signature look. Lastly, I picked seven t-shirts that I was going to have to wear on a constant loop. Three of Rammstein, one of KMFDM, one of Nosferatu, one of Nine Inch Nails and of course, one of Marilyn Manson, he was a classic in 2020 after all.

I didn't spend that much money and I felt confident that with these clothes and whatever I had at home; I was going to be able to combine some bad ass outfits that would call people's attention. Well, I obviously needed to call certain "two people's" attention but I didn't even want to think about it.

Once we got home, I did some research on my phone, about all the bands from my new shirts. I had to learn the information so it could be a little easier to try to become friends with these guys. I learned basic stuff like most popular songs, albums and band member names, without forgetting that all the information had to pertain to 1997 and earlier.

I called David, we didn't plan much, we only agreed that I should try to get close to these guys and I did confess that Eric was my neighbor. However, I kept to myself the fact that he had helped me go back into the house when I was drunk and also the fact that I had seen Eric and Dylan the next morning, outside my window. Still with the omission of this information, David was shocked to learn that I lived next to Eric Harris.

Also, I asked him to bear with me if I was being somewhat distant but he had to understand that I was trying to acclimate to the 90's. Plus, it could be kinda easy for the family to find out that something fishy was happening, since there was no phone in my room and apparently I didn't own a cellphone. He seemed to understand, but mentioned that I had to text him constantly so he could know how I was doing, and of course so he could report back to Michael since he was the "sponsor" of this trip, right? I told David I would call him when there was any new progress.

Then, when I was finally staying somewhat positive, a new idea came to my mind, something that instantly bummed me out. I couldn't comprehend how I was Katrina and Tatia at the same time, so I started suspecting that maybe I was like possessing someone else's body because this girl Katrina had to exist, right?

Is not like I randomly appeared, I mean yes, Tatia came from the future and became Katrina but Katrina had to be real, she had a family. I saw those pictures from when she was a little girl and although it definitely looked like me, they had to be of a different person. Those pictures were what made me think about it, so if I was possessing Katrina's body, where was she? Was she trapped somewhere? It definitely made me depressed. What if I was literally taking her life away from her? Maybe I was a reincarnation, maybe it was possible to exist in two worlds and eras at the same time. So, yeah, I wanted to go crazy once again. One more time I decided that I was going to take a walk outside, this occasion without alcohol involved.

I put on one of the new skirts, a Rammstein t-shirt but pulled up the zipper of the jacket, so the t-shirt wasn't really visible.

Without looking back, I went downstairs, told my family that I was going to walk a little on my own and they were ok with it.

"Great!" I responded with a big smile on my face. I liked these people.

Instead of heading to the park again or something, I couldn't help but peek on the corner to look at Eric's house...


End file.
